Interior Design Sense

… we’ll miss you Donna … and please don’t kill me for putting you on the blog

WINKS – weekend links. Here we list what has come in during the week, things we’ve found and things we think you’ll want to see. If you’d like to see your blog or website featured email us and if we think it fits with our readers we’ll link you. So what’s in this week?

• It’s contemporary craft furniture. It’s handmade from solid timber. It’s influenced by the unpretentious forms of British Country kitchen style, Shaker, traditional Scandinavian and Japanese woodwork. It’s Another Country and it’s gorgeous! P.S. Love the styling!

• Metal accents especially brass are hot, hot, hot right now. Love these Alphabrass tables by Ladies and Gentlemen. Made from vintage brass table lamps. Reconfigured, reassembled, recycled and quirky!

• Studio Bon by Bonnee Sharp for Schumacher. Inspired by the simple beauty of the familiar … an iron handrail, interlocking threads, a heartbeat and birds balancing in the breeze. Casual cotton canvas to luxurious linen. Love the graphic shapes. Love the colours.

• Still on the metal theme I’m loving these hammered iron pendant lights.  And just in case metal isn’t your thing how about this wooden chandelier? I’ve been checking out online retailer Interior Home Spaces where I found these lights and so much more. Continental US shipping unfortunately for those of us in other parts of the world

Hi everyone and welcome to a new week on Desire to Inspire. I’ve been thinking of imperfection over the weekend. I went to see a house and I’m trying my hardest now to buy it. We should know in a few of days after the banks and building inspectors and valuers and agents have prodded and poked, massaged figures and stared down sellers. The house was built in 1860 and got me wondering about imperfection and the beauty of gently aged things. If we are successful I don’t want to gut renovate but to slowly add my own layers to the old house. To leave a crack or an unevenly plastered walls. To cherish the footsteps worn in the cedar stairs. To gently clean the wood burning stove and live with the warped floorboards. I don’t have photos yet to show you but instead I wanted to share the tattered beauty of another home, this one English, one of the locations from Oak Management. Why do we so often race in and rip out ?

Such beautiful soft light. I feel like I could dive in and swim through it. The light in Australia is so harsh and bright that photos like this are like a glass of cool water. So calm and revitalising. (OK the bright pink wall can hardly be called calm but you know what I mean.) New Orleans based photographer Sara Essex Bradley is like the eye of a cyclone. She stands in a room with her camera and all around her is calm. The kids may be running through, the cats are clawing at the rug, life goes on and the telephone is ringing but where Sara stands and aims her camera life stands still and beauty is what results. More after the jump.

Hello and welcome to a new week on Desire to Inspire. I’m so excited about today’s photographer James Braund. Melbourne based Braund captures Aussie homes that are just too cool. Whether high end or real life and really stylish. Midcentury madness anyone? There’s colour and light and life. If photography is inspirational and aspiration then James Braund has me wanting it all.

Before I begin the main topic of this post, I just wanted to thank everyone who has left kind comments on the main blog and on my page regarding my upcoming wedding. The big day is Saturday, and due to the fact that this event is happening on the gorgeous property that is my parent’s backyard, there is ALOT of setting up and that sort of thing that needs to happen in the next couple of days. Because of this I will be taking a bit of a break from the blog starting tomorrow but I’ll be back on Tuesday (Jeff and I aren’t really having a honeymoon on account of the huge addition {=expense} we want to put on our house in the near future but we’ll be going to Prince Edward Island next month to visit Jeff’s family and friends). Jo is AS ALWAYS insisting she publish posts on my behalf because she is a hardass and doesn’t believe in breaks so you all won’t be missing anything. On that note have a great rest of the week and weekend and I’ll see you back here Tuesday!

The other day Rodgrido Martins, an interior designer from São Paulo Brazil, emailed with photos of his pooch for the latest pet post. At the end of his email there was mention of a website called Quarto & Sala. The site is a bit confusing as to what exactly the point is, but it seems like the Brazilian version of The Selby (a popular subject here as a couple weeks ago I blogged about the German version). It features wonderful photography of the homes of seemingly ordinary people who don’t really follow the “rules” of interior design. Which is why I love this site so much. The spaces are quirky and completely lived in, and many are filled with vintage finds. Some photos randomly chosen from the site are below. (Photographed by Gabriel Valdivieso and Maira Acayaba).

New Yorker Peter Margonelli can manipulate natural light in amazing ways. The resulting photographs are impactful and full of life. I was smitten with the photo above – nothing like pets on furniture to reel you in! (Check out a previous post of Peter’s work here, and be sure to have a look at his ‘blurs’ landscape photo…so lovely).

Hello continuing photographer crush! Julian Wass takes a mean photo. Absolutely yummy. Love the colour (OMG the blues and oranges), the light, the interesting angles and compositions. His work is fresh and bright and I can’t get enough which is why I’m showcasing more of his portfolio. (Kim touched on his work here.) Some of it may be a little familiar as Aaron Hom (from this post) is the stylist. I think I described stylists then as the partners in crime to photographers. So here’s the main culprit … Julian! Lots more after the jump.

It’s all about the light. I know we say it over and over but these pictures from the portfolio of photographer Hector Sanchez prove it. These are wonderful rooms that don’t need the glare of the spotlight to shine. I think the blue undertones that Hector captures in his shots are beautiful. Cool and elegant. Speaking of cool and elegant how about that lounging nook in the bathroom! Indulgent. Don’t miss the cool apartment with plenty of retro touches including globes and a clever wardrobe arrangement after the jump.

Happy Friday! How about a bit of wonderful architecture and interior design from SchappacherWhite Ltd., a New York-based firm founded by Steve Schappacher and Rhea White. Whether it be modern, contemporary or country chic, these folks know what they’re doing. I think my favourite has to be the first group of photos, of a 1904 farm house renovation in Shelter Island, NY. Black and white seems to be where it’s at these days and I could not love it more.

A crazy week! So much to do and so little time. That’s why I love to find a website that transports me to a world of beautiful things and beautiful rooms bathed in beautiful light. New photographer crush. Bulgarian born but now long based in the States, Miha Matei gets it. She really does. Miha can capture the essence of a room and tug at your heart. She makes you go “yes … that’s it … that’s exactly what I want”. And I want that bedroom and that dining room and those spindly leg stools. So much more after the jump.